China and South Korea wary of radiation in food: Some countries (and even individual restaurants) that import food from Japan are concerned about the possibility of radiation contamination. The Japanese government has assured their citizenry that the radiation levels detected in milk, spinach, and some water is not enough to do rapid or lasting damage, though they’ve imposed a freeze on food from that region. China and South Korea want to look into the matter themselves, though, absent the responsibility of keeping the Japanese citizenry from being stricken with panic, which their government obviously has. That seems reasonable enough. source
Power lines up in all six Fukushima Daiichi reactors: Which is great sounding news, but they’re not out of the woods yet. There are a number of implications to this, mainly that cooling systems can be turned back on, thus pumping water back into the reactors and preventing a meltdown of the fuel rods. However, the power hasn’t yet been switched on, as engineers fear that the pumps, damaged as they are, could cause an explosion if activated abruptly. That aside, this news is a credit to the bravery of the workers who stayed at the plant. We hope the government gives them truly first-class care once this is over, it’s the only moral thing to do. source
The estimated damage from Japan’s combined earthquake and tsunami make it the world’s most expensive natural disaster since 1965. The world’s second most costly natural disaster also took place in Japan, the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, whose losses totaled nearly 2 percent of the country’s GDP, according to this graphic compiled by The Economist.
Fascinating how most have these have happened in the last twenty years.
Meanwhile, while Glenn Beck and Lawrence O’Donnell are arguing/agreeing about whether or not the Japan nuclear crisis is going to end the world (it’s not), thousands have been killed, thousands more are currently without a roof over their head, and millions more could face electricity issues for months after the Japan quake seriously damaged the power grid. Good to see they’re keeping things in perspective by arguing over who’s right. source
Well, that’s alarming: “The Japanese government advises villagers in Fukushima prefecture not to drink tap water because of radioactive iodine - AP”
In case you need a reminder of the concept of keeping hope alive, watch this. These are people who got rescued NINE DAYS after the quake. And one of the people, an elderly woman named Sumi Abe, was 80. source
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» A huge relief budget, still not enough: The city of Sendai, which is roughly the center point of the quake and Tsunami, has gathered an extra budget of roughly $220 million. Even that will likely not be enough. “No one believes this will be enough to cope with reconstruction,” said a Sendai city spokesperson. “This disaster will cause severe damage to city finances.”
» What happens next: Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says that they’ll continue to test food products, and if they find contaminated products, they’ll ban them from the market. Some experts are understandably skeptical. “They should seriously think about restricting any agricultural products in that area,” said Lam Ching-wan of the University of Hong Kong School of Medicine. “It seems that the whole ecosystem could be affected, so they shouldn’t take any chances.” The radiation factor of milk and spinach is important to note, because after Chernobyl, many cancer cases resulted from children who ingested high levels of radiation in milk.
At 2:46pm Japan time, citizens and rescue workers across the country paused to remember the victims of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. (NHK)
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